"Mini cabinets", the ability to levy an overnight tax on tourists, and the ability to consider local property tax variations of up to 50% are among a number of potential changes to local democracy which have been shared with councillors. In a presentation, seen by the Irish Examiner , councillors have been told the taskforce's report could recommend that existing council oversight groups could be replaced with new elected members’ bodies called council oversight and governance committees. This would lead to chairs of council strategy groups reporting to the council oversight and governance committees. In the presentation to councillors, these oversight committees are described as "mini cabinets". We need more around discretionary funding, because we can't just rely on the LPT [local property tax].

Source: Irish Examiner February 08, 2026 20:27 UTC